


Ride-away Bride

by brokenmimir



Series: Swan Queen Week Winter 2015 [3]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Swan Queen Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-27
Updated: 2015-01-27
Packaged: 2018-03-09 08:06:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3242390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brokenmimir/pseuds/brokenmimir
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>SQWeek2015, Day 3: Arranged Marriage<br/>When Regina was betrothed to the king she thought her life was over... until she met Emma.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ride-away Bride

Snow practically vibrated in place. She hadn’t been so happy since her mother died. Her father was finally getting married again! And to the most wonderful woman in the world. She was going to be so happy to have Regina around. It would be a marvelous party all the time.

Snow looked around for a moment, beaming at her father. He was truly a wonderful man. He was always so kind to her. The only thing that was missing from that moment was her aunt.

She knew that her father had never been terribly close to Aunt Emma, but she was surprised that she couldn’t see the woman anywhere. It was especially surprising since Aunt Emma had seemed to get along so well with Regina. During the two weeks that Regina had been present at the castle the two of them had become almost inseparable.

Things hadn’t started out quite so well though, Snow thought with a giggle.

 

* * *

 

Regina couldn’t find it in herself to even beg her mother to change her mind. Not just because of the punishments that doing so would lead to, but because she just couldn’t find the energy anymore. What was the point in fighting the inevitable? Instead, she simply drifted along, trying not to focus on what was to come.

The castle was impressive, but she barely took anything in as she was led down the hallways. The spoiled little monster Snow hadn’t even noticed that she wasn’t paying any attention, just playing tour guide and skipping along, so pleased to have a new ‘mother’.

Regina finally snapped out of the daze she’d spent the day in when she ran directly into someone. She fell to the ground with a small cry of shock, glaring up at the person who had walked into her while she wasn’t paying attention. It was a beautiful blonde woman dressed in a tunic and breeches with a sword at her side.

“Aunt Emma!” Snow beamed. “This is Regina, my new mother!”

Regina grimaced, but before she could say anything Emma spoke. “Is she now? You’d think your mother would know to look where she was going.”

Regina gritted her teeth as she stood up, brushing her dress with her hands and pointing her nose in the air. “Oh? You would think the king’s sister would look where she was going as well, and yet here we are.”

Emma raised an eyebrow. “Actually, he’s my brother in law. I don’t think its physically possible for someone that old to have a sibling as young as me.”

Regina’s face twisted into a grimace for a moment before smoothing out into an artificially pleasant expression. “Oh, I shouldn’t have made an assumption about your age from your appearance. My apologies, your highness.”  
  
Emma sputtered. “W-what? Excuse me?”  
  
“You are excused,” Regina said indulgently, nodding as she walked passed the woman. For the first time since Daniel, her best friend, had been killed for trying to help her escape into the night she felt something other than despair.

 

* * *

 

Snow still didn’t understand why the two of them had so many difficulties between each other in the beginning. They were both so wonderful, but for some reason they seemed to go out of their way to annoy each other. They bickered and argued constantly, and Regina was really good at snubbing people politely. Snow snickered slightly, thinking of some of the subtle taunts she’d delivered while at formal events.

Emma liked to argue though, and instead of staying away from Regina she sought her out often. For the last few days it seemed like they spent all of their time together. Snow still wasn’t sure if they wanted to kill each other, or if Regina should’ve asked Emma to be her maid of honor. She spent more time with Emma than she did the person actually picked for the role.

The craziest thing was what she had walked in on just the night before. Regina was supposed to be getting dressed for the rehearsal, and she had walked in to see them jumping apart, red in the face, clothing in disarray. They pretended nothing had been happening, but she knew the truth. They must’ve actually started physically fighting!

The door opened, and the band struck up the bridal march. Snow bounced on her toes, basket of flowers in hand. In a matter of moments she would lead the way down the aisle, and then she would have a new mother. She had never been more excited in her life.

Then Regina’s father burst in, looking scared and worried. “Regina... she’s missing!”

And Snow’s world fell apart, her dreams of a happy family shattered.

 

* * *

 

“This is a terrible plan,” Regina shouted, adjusting her hood.

Emma kept a tight grip on the reins of her own horse. She knew how to ride, but she didn’t love doing so, and she certainly didn’t have the skill or talent Regina did. “Would you rather be walking down the aisle right now?”

Regina shuddered. “I didn’t say that. Next time I think of the plan though. You clearly don’t have the knack for it.”

“Hey,” Emma objected. “Who got us away from the palace? Who convinced that maid to pretend to be you to buy us a few hours? Who knew how to talk the guards into letting me ride off with a ‘friend’ the morning of the wedding?”

Regina sneered. “Yes, but your entire plan for escaping the wrath of a king in his own kingdom is ‘ride faster’. He will seek us out, and he will not let this humiliation stand.”

“And once again, I don’t care,” Emma said. “He was a controlling jerk to my sister, and she actually wanted to marry him. I am not going to let him get his hands on you.”  
  
Regina shuddered. “Fine. But I come up with the next plan.”

“Alright,” Emma said. “What are we going to do tonight then?”

Regina pursed her lips. “Daddy gave me all of the money he had on him. We should be able to stop at one of the small inns discretely. Once we do, we get a private room and... celebrate our escape.”

“O-oh,” Emma gulped.

Regina looked at her with smoldering eyes. “It _is_ my wedding night, after all.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Swan Queen Week 2015, Day 3 – Arranged Marriage AU. I really hate the idea of arranged marriages, so writing a story about Regina and Emma fleeing from one together appealed to me greatly.


End file.
